Tuesday, August 02, 2011

My First Group Coupon Buy

With National Day coming, I am reminded of what it is to be Singaporean. Among the many quirks and traits, being able to sniff out and secure a good lobang (deal) is definitely one of them.

Maybe it's this drive for good lobangs that has led to the proliferation of the many group buying coupon sites here. I even have a friend who signed up with many of these websites and receives nothing but email updates promoting the latest deals everyday! LOL.

Anyway, I saw BigDeal.sg dangling a 4-course set meal for $18 at Friends and... I bought 4 coupons and brought the family for lunch.

First course: Chilled Angel Hair Pasta & Lumpfish Caviar Tossed with Konbu, Chives & White Truffle Oil. This was a very nice starter. Well-chilled and delicately packed with umami flavours. Reminded me of the version at Gunther's but there it's $60 a plate. The one at Friends more...er...friendly. Moohehehe.

The other choice of Caesar Salad was also not bad. Creamy dressing, crunchy lettuce, hard-boiled egg and bacon bits are quite hard to go wrong.

The Pan Fried Dory Fish was a simple dish. Tender dory fillet lightly dusted with flour, pan fried and served with pineapple salsa. Ok but nothing to moo too much about.

The French Styled Chicken Stew arrived with less gravy than I had expected. Stew mah. Moohaha. Anyway, it seemed more like pan fried chicken with sauce. Tasty. I like the sauce a lot...especially with the mashed potatoes that had a nice hint of butter. :p

This was the Grilled Ribeye Served with Au Jus. Additional $5 supplement to the set meal price but worth it! Yah, this cow can be biased by supporting his own kind but sometimes nothing like a nice piece of grilled cow! The doneness wasn't spot on but it was a day when I would rather have peace prevail.

A simple meal with peace and love beats a lavish one with strife.

Fourth course: Daily Dessert of the Day- a small piece of cheesecake.

What are my thoughts on this lobang that almost sounded to good to be true? Hmm...the portions are generally small (check out the photos with the fork to act as a size gauge) but should be sufficient for most. Food was ok though with the "special deal" pricing, I think it was not representative of what Friends could offer. The price of $18NETT still makes this very good value. There was coffee and tea too.